1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a child car seat which is fixed to a seat in a car for sitting an infant therein and, in particular, to an improved child car seat incorporating therein an emergency-lock type of retractor.
2. Related Art
When putting an infant aboard a car, in order to insure the safety of the infant, there is used a child car seat.
Conventionally, there are present various kinds of structures for the child car seat. Here, description will be predetermined below of the structure of an example of the conventional child car seats with reference to FIGS. 44 and 45.
A child car seat 101 shown in FIGS. 44 and 45 includes a seat part 102 with an infant""s sitting seat portion and a back portion thereof formed as an integrally united body, and a base part 104 to be fixed to the seat of the car by a car seat belt 103. In the central portion of the front surface of the seat part 102, there is provided a stomach member 105; and, not only belts 106a and 106b to be pulled from the back surface side of the seat part 102 but also seat belts 106c and 106d fixed to the child car seat can be removably fixed to the stomach member 105, respectively by their associated fixing and removing metal members 106e and 106f. 
And, the belts 106a and 106b are respectively fixed to one end of a plate-shaped belt adjusting metal member 110 on the back surface side of the seat part 102 and, to the other end of the belt adjusting metal member 110, there is fixed a length adjusting belt 311 which is pulled out from a retractor (which will be discussed later, and, in FIG. 1, is shown by reference character 1). The retractor is mounted in the lower portion of the seat part 102, while the length adjusting belt 311 is pulled out from a pull-out opening 312.
When using the above-mentioned child car seat 101, as shown in FIG. 45, the base part 104 is fixed to the seat of the car by the car seat belt 103 and the infant is then seated in the seat part 102. In this operation, the head of the infant is situated between the two belts 106a and 106b, while the two belts 106a and 106b are fixed to the stomach member 105 in such a manner that they hold the shoulder of the infant. Then, the stomach member 105 covers the stomach part and breast part of the infant, while the two lets of the infant are extended forwardly from the two sides of the stomach member.
In the normal running state of the car, the two belts 106a and 106b can be pulled out or pulled back according to the motion of the infant while applying slight tension to the infant; and, therefore, when the infant moves to thereby pull the two belts 106a and 106b toward the infant, the two belts 106a and 106b are pulled out from the child car seat 101 and, when the two belts 106a and 106b are loosened, they are pulled back automatically. In this manner, the infant is to sit in the child car seat 101 while the infant is loosely restricted by the child car seat 101.
On the other hand, when breaking hard or the like, an emergency-lock type retractor is operated urgently. That is, since the hard breaking causes the infant to incline forward suddenly, the two belts 106a and 106b are pulled suddenly and the length adjusting belt 311 is also going to be pulled suddenly. However, in such case, the emergency-lock type retractor secures the length adjusting belt 311 due to its acceleration action to thereby prevent the length adjusting belt 311 from being pulled out, that is, locks the length adjusting belt 311 in an emergency. As a result of this, the pull-out of the two belts 106a and 106b is restricted and thus the whole body of the infant is held by the stomach member 105 and two belts 106a and 106b, so that the safety of the infant can be secured.
The present invention aims at eliminating the drawbacks found in the above-mentioned conventional child car seat. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an emergency-lock type retractor which also allows a parent to lock arbitrarily the belts holding an infant seated in a child car seat, and a child car seat incorporating such emergency-lock type retractor therein.
In attaining the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an emergency-lock type retractor comprising an emergency lock part which, when a belt wound around a drum is pulled suddenly at a predetermined speed or higher, capable of stopping the rotation of the drum to thereby restrict the pull-out of said belt, the emergency-lock type retractor further including a hand-operated lock part capable of stopping the rotation of the drum by hand.
According to the present structure, not only the originally expected emergency locking is possible, but also the belt can be previously set to a predetermined length by hand to fix an infant, which makes it possible to enhance the easy use of the retractor.
Also, according to the present invention, there is provided an emergency-lock type retractor comprising an emergency lock part which, when a belt wound around a drum is pulled suddenly at a predetermined speed or higher, is capable of securing a securing pawl to a gear rotating integrally with said drum to stop the rotation of the drum to thereby restrict the pull-out of the belt, and a hand-operated lock part which not only allows a user to operate the securing pawl by hand to secure the securing pawl to the gear to thereby stop the rotation of the drum and thus restrict the pull-out and storage of the belt but also allows the user to remove the mutual securing engagement between the securing pawl and gear by hand.
According to the present structure, by making use of a conventional securing pawl which is provided as an emergency locking pawl for locking the belt, the length of the belt can be set to a desired length by hand.
Further, according to the present invention, in an emergency-lock type retractor, there is further included an operation part which, when an operation knob is fixed at a first operation position, allows the user to carry out the mutual securing engagement between the securing pawl and gear by the hand-operated lock part and, when the operation knob is fixed at a second operation position, allows the user to remove the mutual securing engagement between the securing pawl and gear by the hand-operated lock part.
According to the present structure, the hand-operated locking as well as removal of such locking can be carried out according to the fixed position of the operation knob, which makes it easier to operate the retractor.
And, according to the present invention, in an emergency-lock type retractor, there is disposed on the operation knob a lock knob to be energized by a spring, and one end of the lock knob is secured by the energizing force of the spring to a securing hole formed at a predetermined position to thereby carry out the fixation of the operation knob at the first and second operation position.
According to the present structure, by operating the operation knob, the lock knob is automatically secured to the securing hole, which makes it possible to carry out the locking of the belt and removing such locking simply and positively.
Also, according to the present invention, in an emergency-lock type retractor, the hand-operated operation of the securing pawl through the operation part is carried out by means of a flexible wire connecting together the operation part and hand-operated part.
According to the present structure, the operation of the hand-operated lock part can be carried out at an arbitrary position which is distant from the retractor main body and is easiest to operate.
Further, according to the present invention, in an emergency-lock type retractor, the hand-operated operation of the securing pawl is carried out by operating the operation knob directly.
According to the present structure, it is possible to omit a wire for connecting together the operation part and hand-operated lock part, thereby being able to reduce the number of parts required.
And, according to the present invention, there is provided an emergency-lock type retractor comprising an emergency lock part which, when a belt wound around a drum is pulled suddenly at a predetermined speed or higher, is capable of securing a securing pawl to a gear rotating integrally with the drum to thereby stop the rotation of the drum and thus restrict the pull-out of the belt, and a hand-operated lock part which not only allows a user to secure a second securing pawl to be operated by hand to the gear to thereby stop the rotation of the drum and thus restrict the pull-out and storage of the belt but also allows the user to remove the mutual securing engagement between the second securing pawl and gear by hand.
According to the present structure, the hand-operated locking can be carried out separately from the emergency lock part.
Also, according to the present invention, there is provided an emergency-lock type retractor comprising an emergency lock part which, when a belt wound around a drum is pulled suddenly at a predetermined speed or higher, is capable of securing a securing pawl to a gear rotating integrally with the drum to thereby stop the rotation of the drum and thus restrict the pull-out of the belt, and a hand-operated lock mechanism which is capable of pressing against part of the belt to thereby restrict the pull-out and storage of the belt.
According to the present structure, by operating the hand-operated lock mechanism which is disposed separately from the emergency lock part and can be designed freely, the pull-out and take-up of the belt can be locked at an arbitrary position by hand.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided an emergency-lock type retractor comprising an emergency lock part which, when a belt wound around a drum is pulled suddenly at a predetermined speed or higher, is capable of securing a securing pawl to a gear rotating integrally with the drum to thereby stop the rotation of the drum and thus restrict the pull-out of the belt, and a hand-operated lock mechanism which is capable of securing a belt adjusting metal member connected to the belt to thereby restrict the pull-out and storage of the belt.
According to the present structure, by using the hard metal member with which the belt is to be connected, the pull-out and storage of the belt can be locked, which makes it possible to realize a positive locking operation.
And, according to the present invention, there is provided a retractor comprising a drum around which a seat belt can be wound, a lock member for restricting the rotation of the drum, and an operation member for operating the lock member to thereby switch the same between a locking state and a locking removed state as the need arises.
Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a retractor comprising a drum around which a seat belt can be wound, a lock member for restricting the pull-out and storage of the belt, and an operation member for operating the lock member to thereby switch the same between a locking state and a locking removed state as the need arises.
According to the structures respectively, even when a seat belt does not include an emergency lock part, the pull-out and storage of such seat belt can be locked by hand.
And, according to the present invention, there is provided a child car seat which is provided by an emergency-lock type retractor.
According to the thus structured child car seat, a belt, which holds an infant while a car is running, can be locked urgently as well as the belt can be previously set to a predetermined length and fixed by hand, so that the present child car seat can be made easier to use.